Search Continues For Relatives Of Missing Korean War Veterans

Gaston Gazette - Gastonia, NC, USA

Search continues for relatives of missing Korean War veterans

December 5, 2008 - 8:28 PM
Michael Barrett

The date was July 20, 1950, when John Daniel Smith went missing as an American prisoner of war in North Korea.

A little more than two months later, on Sept. 22, Junior Ray Tucker also disappeared, after being taken prisoner while fighting in the country's southern end.

Fellow soldiers who were also captured confirmed the two men were killed, yet their bodies were never found. And they may have little in common, but for the fact that Smith and Tucker were both sons of Gaston County.

Somewhere amid that foreign terrain, their remains may one day be discovered. And if so, Harold Davis hopes a DNA record will be available to confirm their identities.

"We've had some luck in North Carolina," said Davis, a Korean War veteran who is helping to identify the remains of fellow vets who died in that conflict. "We've been very fortunate."

Lost in a foreign land

The U.S. military seeks to identify remains of soldiers overseas through its Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). Those efforts have sped up in recent years in North Korea, where more than 8,000 American servicemen were unaccounted for when the war there ended more than half a century ago.

To distinguish remains, the agency must have DNA of a relative on file to compare it with. Davis works with the military to get that information in place, by locating family members even before remains have been found.

Some 2,000 missing veterans remains have yet to be identified or located.

When a relative is located, JPAC sends them a DNA kit with a mouth swab, which they are instructed to use and mail back.

Davis served in North Korea with the Army's 40th Infantry Division from 1952 to 1953, and remembers well the harsh conditions. He suffered frostbite in winter temperatures that dipped to 35 degrees below zero, then experienced the opposite extreme in the stifling summer heat.

The weather was symbolic of the treatment of American prisoners, Davis said.

"That was a very cruel war, in many, many ways," he said. "With the enemy itself, what they did to our prisoners ... very few came back.

"The fortunate ones were the ones who got killed, really."

Local boys

Smith was a master sergeant and Tucker was a corporal in the Army. Their hometowns in Gaston County aren't known, Davis said.

"When you went into the Army at that time, they listed the name of your county as your home of record," he said. "The Air Force and Marine Corps listed your town, but not the Army, for some reason."

Smith was 23 when he went missing. After being taken captive, records show that he was part of a notorious parade of prisoners into North Korea known as the Tiger Death March.

He survived the march before dying at a prison in Hanjang-Ni.

"It was reported by prisoners who did survive," Davis said.

Smith was a career soldier and had also fought in World War II. The Korean War had only begun on June 25, 1950.

"He was lost July 20, so the war hadn't been going on long," Davis said. "That was pretty quick."

The military has less information on Tucker, who went missing in action while fighting in the Daejeon region of South Korea on Sept. 22.

"He went missing later because the second infantry division didn't get over there until the fighting had been going on for a while," said Davis. "That's really all I have on him."

When Davis tracks down relatives and tells them why he is calling, he often has to explain to them first that their family member's remains have not yet been found.

He was involved recently in helping to track down and get a DNA sample from a relative of Larry Sell, an Air Force veteran from Gastonia who was killed in North Korea.

Sell's remains, like that of so many other veterans, have yet to be located. But if they ever are found, a DNA record could finally bring about the closure they all deserve, Davis said.

"I personally feel that relations with North Korea will continue to get better," he said, "and one day we'll be able to find and identify a lot of these men."

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826.


Missing Korean War veterans of the area

Name: John Daniel Smith

Home: Gaston County

Born: 1912

Date of loss: July 20, 1950 POW

Rank: Master sergeant

Unit: L Company, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division

Name: Junior Ray Tucker

Home: Gaston County

Born: June 19, 1927

Date of loss: Sept. 22, 1950 MIA

Rank: Corporal

Unit: E Company, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division

Name: Ralph Stover

Home: Lincoln County

Born: March 20, 1926

Date of loss: May 5, 1953

Rank: Private 1st Class

Unit: A Company, 116th Engineer Combat Battalion

Name: Logan Christopher Weathers

Home: Cleveland County

Born: Oct. 29, 1911

Date of loss: Unknown

Rank: First lieutenant

Unit: Headquarters Company, 55th Quartermaster Depot, 8th Army

For more information

Do you have any information about Junior Ray Tucker or John Daniel Smith, or their relatives, that you'd like to share? If so, contact Korean War veteran Harold Davis at 910-791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.

Was there a veteran in your family who was killed or who went missing in action overseas, and was never found? The Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command might be able to help. For more information, contact Korean War veteran Harold Davis at 910-791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.